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Living the dream

When the Cronk family moved to the Provence countryside, their plan was not just to sit on the terrace sipping wine, but to make it too – and they have done, with gold-medal-winning results. What’s more, the local grapes aren’t the only produce they transform into wonderful things…

PHOTOGRAPHS LAUREN MCLEAN

When Stephen Cronk had the idea of moving his life and family to France to make wine, his wife Jeany was hesitant.

The couple had successful jobs in the UK (Stephen used to work in the wine trade), but they’d also both nurtured a dream to make wine in Provence.

Then something happened that made the pipe dream seem possible… A timely redundancy offer felt like fate giving them a push. So, with barely a word of French between them, the family set off for the town of Cotignac (opposite) in the south of France to live la vie en rose – literally in their case, as they planned to make an awful lot of rosé.

LIFE IS LOOKING ROSÉ

Seven years on, Mirabeau wine (mirabeauwine. com) is winning awards. When the delicious. team visited, the family found out their Mirabeau Classic Rosé 2015 had won a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge 2016 – one of only three Provence rosés to win gold this year. Their philosophy of buying the best local grapes each year means they can produce consistently excellent wine, as it’s not dependent on the often variable quality of grapes from a single vineyard.

About Delicious Magazine

The August issue of delicious. is bursting with summer goodness: find three beautiful burgers (one’s vegetarian), a dreamy menu from Provence, the best tomato recipes, favourite seaside dishes re-invented and the hottest (and coolest) puds. Dan Doherty tries out his brunch recipes, Francesco Mazzei and José Pizarro create a feast with their chef friends and Meera Sodha cooks lighter vegetarian meals. We’ve also squeezed in Allan Pickett’s duck rillettes, an array of speedy midweek meals and much more…